Problem: What is the least value of $y$ such that $3y^2 + 5y + 2 = 4$?
Answer: We proceed as follows: \begin{align*}
3y^2 + 5y + 2 &= 4\\
3y^2 + 5y - 2 &= 0\\
(3y - 1)(y + 2) &= 0.
\end{align*}This gives us $y = \frac{1}{3}$ or $y = -2.$ Of these, $y = \boxed{-2}$ is the smaller value, and thus is our answer.